Hybrids

[guidedbyechoes]

I know a few people have warned me about mixing certain species of cichlids. I also know the parrot and blood parrots are hybrids. They seem to be very popular. So besides trying to pass them off as another species for more money. What is the harm?

 

[Corleone]

The harm is usually in deformations that negatively effect quality of life. Blood parrots are a good example of this, since they can't fully close their mouths.

Some species generally considered pure were likely crossed at some point in the past to produce color varieties, since it's a common method of producing new varieties. Nearly all truly domestic animals are the product of extensive cross breeding, so deformation isn't the rule, only a risk, made worse by careless crossbreeding.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

So ethically I see nothing wrong with attempting it besides the chance of having to euthanize some or them developing sensitivity to certain genetic diseases. But I guess most people aren't willing to take that chance.

 

[tetraman]

They are also usually sterile, so the two species need to be continually crossbred and can't be bred by those who buy them.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

They are also usually sterile, so the two species need to be continually crossbred and can't be bred by those who buy them.

Would that be truw with every cross or just with those that are very differnt from each other.

 

[Corleone]

That depends on a lot of things, many of which aren't fully understood by science.

 

[Colin_T]

sorry double posted, please delete this one

 

[Colin_T]

Many hybrids are fertile and will continue the new strain.

Many hybrids look similar to the original species (especially the females) and these can end up being mixed with the original forms and sold to unsuspecting buyers who then breed them with the original fish, thus producing more hybrid fish that don't necessarily look or act like they should. This can be very annoying to a breeder who may have spent a lot of money purchasing the stock and then has to destroy all their fish because they don't know which one is the problem and produces the mutants.

Most shops won't buy hybrids so if you do cross different species you should only keep a few for yourself and not try to sell or give them to anybody.

 

[guidedbyechoes]

Many hybrids are fertile and will continue the new strain.

Many hybrids look similar to the original species (especially the females) and these can end up being mixed with the original forms and sold to unsuspecting buyers who then breed them with the original fish, thus producing more hybrid fish that don't necessarily look or act like they should. This can be very annoying to a breeder who may have spent a lot of money purchasing the stock and then has to destroy all their fish because they don't know which one is the problem and produces the mutants.

Most shops won't buy hybrids so if you do cross different species you should only keep a few for yourself and not try to sell or give them to anybody.

What if you plan to give it to some one that has no interntion of selling them? On another note I didn't know africans and new worlds could mate. A person I know has some Nimbochromis venustus and Archocentrus nigrofasciatus cross. They are still quite young, but I wonder how they will turn out.

 

[loachman]

Like Collin_T pointed out many times, the more serious hobbiests do not want hybrids. This is especially true of things like endlers livebearers (who easily crossbreed with guppies) and rainbowfish (which will crossbreed readily between different species). There is quite a bit of effort to breed pure strains of different species and it is not always obvious when two species are crossed until they reach maturity (if ever).

 

[OohFeeshy]

Hybrids are a bit of a gamble- you've got no way of knowing how aggressive, big or anything the offspring will turn out. You've got no way of knowing what happens when they grow- many have a very high mortality after a certain age- and depending on how you mix them, no way of knowing the parents.

 

[kribensis12]

I only support hybrids , as long as they are labeld correctly, and are different enought that someones pure bread stock dosent get ruined ( as in, they get mistaken for another fish)